US futures fall on Ukraine fears

Reuters.A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York.

New York - US stock index futures fell on Thursday after Ukraine's president said Russian forces had been brought into his country, bringing concerns over the volatile region back into focus.

* Worries over tension abroad had largely faded from Wall Street, with major indexes seeing few negative days over the past two weeks and both the Dow and S&P hitting records.

However, the market has been looking for direction, with daily moves small and trading volume light.

* Bank stocks may be in focus after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating media reports that several US financial firms - including, according to sources, JPMorgan Chase & Co - have been victims of recent cyber attacks.

* Ukraine accused Russia of mounting an invasion in the southeast of the country in support of pro-Moscow separatist rebels.

The country's security and defence council said that the border town of Novoazovsk and other parts of Ukraine's south-east had fallen under the control of Russian forces.

* Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday Russian forces had been “brought into Ukraine” and called an urgent meeting of the security and defence council to decide the next steps to take in the crisis.

* While few US companies have heavy exposure to either country, investors are worried about the potential fallout from any escalation in tensions, including increased sanctions.

An index of major shares in Europe, which has much more exposure, fell 0.8 percent.

If European growth is depressed by the conflict, that could have an indirect impact on the United States.

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